FORMER state Labor premier John Brumby will be working with his political nemesis - Premier Ted Baillieu - to push a national reform agenda to boost productivity.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced on Friday that Mr Brumby had been appointed chairman of the Council of Australian Governments reform council, a role in which he will act as a ''performance watchdog'' overseeing reforms, including the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

Mr Brumby, who was also state treasurer, said he had no problem working closely with the man who defeated him in the 2010 election.

''I'm not interested in partisanship, I'm not interested in any political games, I'm interested in the job of driving COAG's monitoring and reporting on the reform agenda,'' Mr Brumby told Fairfax Media.

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He said the goal would be to tackle financial challenges linked to the ageing population by providing services more efficiently, rather than having to raise taxes.

''The COAG reform agenda is all about trying to close that gap through service improvements, through removing unnecessary regulation, through driving productivity improvements in the delivery of government programs,'' Mr Brumby said.

His job adds to a growing list of former senior Labor figures appointed to official positions. The listing includes former South Australian Premier Mike Rann, who has been appointed Australia's high commissioner to London, former Queensland Premier Anna Bligh, who has been appointed to the board of Medibank Private and former Queensland treasurer Andrew Fraser, who has been appointed to the board of the Australian Sports Commission.